Dallas Cowboys Blog

Troy Aikman: Despite a lot of pressure, Tony Romo performed in ‘heroic fashion’

Troy Aikman obviously understands the pressure that comes with being the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, so he is the perfect person to discuss Tony Romo’s performance against the 49ers last Sunday.

Romo’s ability to return with a broken rib and punctured lung and lead his team to victory would seemingly go a long way in terms of earning the respect of his teammates. But Aikman recently said Romo possessed that respect among the veteran players before the 27-24 win in San Francisco.

“He already had the respect of those players, and the young guys, they don’t really know much different anyway,” Aikman said on Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM). “I think it was very positive. I think the best part of it was that it came on the heels of a week of a lot of criticism. In a game where there was a lot of pressure on him to go out and play well, he did that. And he did it in heroic fashion.

“I think it goes a long way, and affords him some time to get people off his back.”

Aikman, an NFL analyst for FOX, also chatted about the Cowboys’ Monday night opponent, the Washington Redskins. He was in the broadcast booth for Washington’s Week 1 victory over the Giants. He called the Redskins a “dangerous team” and said that the organization is benefiting from some addition by subtraction.

“I like them. I like the things that they’ve done,” he said. “When they got rid of Albert Haynesworth, and I guess to a little lesser extent Clinton Portis and Donovan McNabb, that they got better because the locker room got better. They’ve got some younger players and everybody’s kind of buying in to what Mike Shanahan’s doing.”

However, there is one member of the Redskins that Aikman doesn’t believe in – starting quarterback Rex Grossman.

“I don’t know that Rex over the long haul will be able to get it done for them,” Aikman said.